Eldest

It would appear that my attempts at the blog tag game were a little late. Maybe I should just stick to doing book reviews and the odd rant about whatever's on my mind.

In that vein, let's talk Eldest.

I know I was a little harsh on the movie adaptation of Eragon. I wonder if maybe that cinematic train wreck soured me on the whole Inheritance trilogy. Hard to say. I can say this, though: I wasn't as impressed this time around with Paolini.

For starters, Paolini's archaic grammar and writing really bugged me. I realize that he was trying to set a tone, and maybe it's just I'm a more laid-back kind of guy, but it was a little too clear to me that Paolini was trying to give his story an "epic" feeling. But the kind of writing he did isn't really necessary to achieve "epicness." Sure, J.R.R. Tolkein did it, but Tolkein did it better.

Second, I wonder what Paolini's personal beliefs are, specifically his religious beliefs. There were times when it seemed that Paolini was on a soap box, preaching through his characters. I know it's a little ironic that a pastor who yearns to publish Christian fiction would be bugged by preachy characters, but part of the problem is that I disagreed with the position I think Paolini was espousing. And maybe I was just reading into things a bit too much.

Now I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the book. The climactic battle between the Varden and the Empire was a good read, especially the surprise twist that occurred toward the end. I did not see it coming, and that's a good thing; I hate it when I can figure out an ending a hundred pages before it happens. It's also obvious that Paolini has put a lot of thought into his fictional world; it comes to life in a very nice way.

So will I read the third Inheritance book? More than likely; I'm the kind of guy who likes to finish stuff like this. But I probably won't buy a copy. The library will be good enough.

Next on my pile of books to read is The Sparrow, which Sharon Hinck recently recommended to me. I don't know. That pile of books just keeps getting larger; I recently ordered two more books from Amazon: The Apocalypse Code and The Restorer. So I guess that means I'll be busy with book reviews for a while.

Not that that's a bad thing.